How soon should we oil a new Merbau deck?

[tremas]

Hi, we've just had a merbau deck built. Interested in thoughts on how soon we should oil it. My main concern is that we plan to have people over in a week or so and am worried about any spills (food/drink) that may stain the unoiled deck - would i be able to remove these if they happened?  From what I've read, it seems it's best to let it weather for about 6-8 weeks before oiling.

The deck is exposed and north facing, so gets lots of sun. Not sure of that's a factor in oiling sooner?

Thanks for any advice.

[Jason]

Great result @tremas. Congratulations. We will feature your handiwork on our Project Gallery as I'm sure it will help and inspire others.

Thanks for sharing, and we look forward to seeing what projects you tackle next.

Jason

[Jaylintara]

Hi there, information looks handy, does this also include the pre oiled merbau?

I am gettya delivery Sun for an installation around pool next week.

Trying to avoid tannin bleeding into pool.

Regards

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Jaylintara. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about pre-oiled Merbau.

Our pre-oil Merbau comes with a priming coat of oil designed to protect the product until it is top-coated with your preferred product. You can read more about the coating in the product brochure. You will still need to let it naturally age or use a product like Intergrain 1L UltraPrep Timber Cleaner to strip its tannins before coating.

I suspect that you'll still see a significant amount of bleed from this tannin-rich timber as no ageing process has been done to it. This might be slower than a non-primed timber, but I believe it will still be evident.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Jaylintara]

Thanks Mitchell.

I'm happy to use the cleaner to speed up the process of tannin removal on surface. I'm more concerned with leaching from the last few rows and facia boards that hang over pool edge, will these turn my pool tea colour and stain my liner? Or will it not be noticeable in 55kl of water bring filtered?

Should I leave the last few rows off to avoid any tannin in pool?

[MitchellMc]

@Jaylintara,

I'd suggest you treat and clean those boards prior to installation. I suspect the tannin leech will be diluted by the volume of water. However, I am concerned about the staining of your liner. Staining of liners seems to be a fairly common issue with installing Merbau up to or over a pool.

Mitchell

[Jaylintara]

Thanks again Mitchell.

I think I'll leave facia boards off until washed a few times with Tannin cleaner, I'm also going to staple builders plastic on underside of deck structure to create flashing between deck and pool coping, this should mitigate leaching into pool.

[MitchellMc]

That sounds like a very sensible plan, @Jaylintara.

Please keep us updated on your project, as it sounds like it will be a sensational build. We'd encourage you to start a discussion so our other members can follow along too.

Reach out if you need further assistance. We're here to help.

Mitchell

[anilj]

Hi MitchellMc,

I've used the SpecRight decking for a project at home. The brochure says "topcoating is required within 8-12 weeks of installation". 

Does this mean to do it between weeks 8 and 12 or just do it anytime before the 12 week mark? 

I am keen to do it as early as possible so we can be finished with our project but don't want to do it too soon either.

Thanks! 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @anilj. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about coating a deck.

The eight-week period allows enough time for the timber to naturally weather and release tannins. If you wish to do the coating earlier than that, you can accelerate the process by scrubbing the deck down with Cabot's New Timber Prep. Once the prepping process is completed, you'll be able to apply decking oil.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[AmandaM11]

Hi love how your deck has turned out may I ask what oil you ended up using please. 😊